1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to a method for executing a Basic Input Output System (BIOS) tool program, and more particularly to a method for executing a BIOS tool program in a non-System Management Interrupt (SMI) mechanism.
2. Related Art
A System Management Mode (SMM) is a CPU execution mode introduced by Intel into x86 chip architecture after 386SL. In the SMM, a BIOS can only be entered through a System Management Interrupt (SMI) and exited by executing a Removable Storage Management (RSM) program instruction. The SMM is non-transparent to an operating system, that is, the operating system has no idea when to enter the SMM and cannot figure out whether the SMM is executed or not. To implement the SMM and provide a hardware SMI function, Intel adds a pin SMI#Pin to the CPU, and when the pin is at a high electric potential, the CPU enters the mode. During the SMM execution procedure, other procedures, including interrupts to the CPU, are all shielded. The SMM execution procedure is called an SMM processing procedure, and all the SMM processing procedures can only be carried out in the space of a System Management RAM (SMRAM). The SMM processing procedure can only be implemented by system firmware.
FIG. 1 is a schematic system block diagram of executing a BIOS tool program in an SMI mechanism in the prior art. When a Windows tool module 10 intends to call a function of an Extensible Firm Interface (EFI) BIOS 12, the Windows tool module 10 and an Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI) ACPI Source Language (ASL) module 14 are enabled to perform bi-directional communication through a Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) interface 16 having a WMI BIOS tool program.
Currently, a hardware SMI is provided in the existing x86 chip architecture, and to perform message transmission with the EFI BIOS 12 or execute a BIOS function in, for example, an EFI Windows operating system, many existing WMI BIOS tool programs are connected to the EFI BIOS 12 for communication through first the ACPI ASL module 14 and then the SMI mechanism. However, new x86 System On Chip (SOC) architecture does not have the condition of providing a hardware SMI, thus it may result in execution failure of many WMI BIOS tool programs in the x86 SOC architecture unless the WMI BIOS tool program is rewritten.